Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday pushed the send button on The Daily, a news application designed for the iPad that he hopes will position his News Corporation front and centre in the digital news stand of the future.
“New times demand new journalism,” Murdoch said before an audience of reporters, media executives, employees and advertising partners.
The Daily will be a first of its kind for tablet computers: a general interest publication that will refresh every morning and will bill customers’ credit cards each week for 99 cents or each year for $40. The Daily takes that same sensibility to the digital age by trying to enliven the printed word with photographs, video and interactive features that work seamlessly together.
“There’s a growing segment of the population here and around the world that is educated and sophisticated that does not read national print newspapers or watch television news,” said Murdoch, the owner of television stations and newspapers around the world. “We can and we must make the business of newsgathering and editing viable again.”
The Daily’s price is deliberately low. Available only on iPads, it will be free to users for the first two weeks, courtesy of a sponsorship deal with Verizon. After that, it will cost 99 cents a week or $39.99 a year.
{{/usCountry}}The Daily’s price is deliberately low. Available only on iPads, it will be free to users for the first two weeks, courtesy of a sponsorship deal with Verizon. After that, it will cost 99 cents a week or $39.99 a year.
{{/usCountry}}With roughly 15 million iPads already sold, the pool of potential customers is not yet large enough to yield the kinds of returns that the News Corporation would need to quickly recoup its initial investment in The Daily — roughly $30 million. Murdoch said the costs of producing The Daily would be around $500,000 a week.
“Our ambitions are very big, but our costs are very low,” Murdoch said. Subscriptions will make up the bulk of The Daily’s revenue at first. Advertising will make up a smaller piece. So far HBO, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Range Rover are among those to have signed on. NYT